Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 5:55 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 5:55 p.m.

Asked what type of strategy he'd need to be successful in this week's U.S. Open, Ocala golfer Ted Potter Jr. delivered some conventional wisdom as his response.

"You've definitely got to hit the ball on the fairway off the tee and then find the middle of the green," he said. "You don't play as aggressive in a U.S. Open."

Then Potter thought about the stock answer he had just given — and he laughed.

"It's hard to talk from experience," he confessed. "That's just from what I've seen on TV."

And that's the challenge Potter faces on a near week-to-week basis in his sophomore season on the PGA Tour. Not only does he have to contend with a collection of the very best golfers in the world, but he often has to do it in events and on courses that he's never experienced before.

When it comes to the U.S. Open, the last of the four major championships that Potter hadn't played, that challenge is especially, well, challenging. Open courses, carefully selected and set up by the USGA, are outlined by brutal rough, making them notoriously unforgiving and tough to navigate.

As evidence, only three of the last eight Open champions finished their triumphant weeks below par. That's because an Open's greens are known to be so fast, its rough so rugged, that former USGA president Sandy Tatum was once asked if he was trying to make golf's brightest stars look bad.

"We're not trying to embarrass the best players in the world," Tatum famously replied, "we're trying to identify them,"

The 2013 U.S. Open will take place near Philadelphia, where the Merion Golf Club awaits with wicker baskets — not flags — atop the flagsticks and no yardage markers allowed on the track. Merion plays at less than 7,000 yards, making it the shortest U.S. Open course since Southern Hills in 2001 and nullifying the prodigious driving of stars like Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.

That's just fine with Potter, not one of the PGA Tour's biggest hitters.

"It's not a course where you have to bomb it off the tee," Potter said. "You have to hit a lot of fairways, which I feel like I do hit a lot of fairways on the tour. My driver has been pretty good out there. I'm definitely looking forward to it."

Potter, a very aggressive putter, could benefit from the weather leading up to Thursday's action. The championship will take place over lush, soft greens that have been reduced dramatically in speed by the steady rains ushered in with Tropical Storm Andrea. With the ground soaked — and there's even more rain likely Thursday — birdie opportunities may become more abundant than what is typically offered by a U.S. Open set-up.

But Potter said he isn't planning to attack too vigorously, at least not from the air.

"You're trying to make par," he said. "If you make birdie, you make birdie, but you're just trying to hit a lot of fairways and greens, then hopefully get the putter working."

The putter was working just fine at Potter's sectional qualifier last week in Ohio, where he survived an 11-golfer playoff for seven spots in the U.S. Open field.

Potter was a stroke outside the cut on the 36th hole of his day when he drained a 10-foot birdie putt to get back in the game. Then, on the first hole of the playoff, he knocked his approach inside three feet, setting up an easy birdie that punched his ticket to Pennsylvania.

"When I got done (in regulation), it looked like I was going to be in a playoff so I was already prepared for that part of it," Potter said. "I also knew there would be a lot of spots in that playoff with a bunch of guys in it, so it wasn't like I had to go out there and birdie the first hole. I knew if I did birdie the first hole, I'd have a really good shot of getting in."

Potter has yet to have a breakout moment in a major championship. He was a last-minute entry into last year's British Open, which occurred only two weeks after he won the Greenbrier Classic. At Royal Lytham & St. Annes, a first-round 69 had him briefly in the discussion and helped him survive the cut, but, playing his third tournament in three weeks, he faded over the weekend and finished 60th.

Then he missed the cut at the PGA Championship last August by one stroke, the same number he missed by at his first Masters this spring.

Thursday, he'll take his first shot at the USGA's prestigious national championship.

"It's definitely a dream come true to get all four (majors) knocked out," he said. "Now I'm looking forward to starting to actually play better in them."

Potter will tee off at 8:13 a.m. with two other sectional qualifiers, Ryan Palmer of Colleyville, Texas, and England's Simon Khan.

<p>Asked what type of strategy he'd need to be successful in this week's U.S. Open, Ocala golfer Ted Potter Jr. delivered some conventional wisdom as his response.</p><p>"You've definitely got to hit the ball on the fairway off the tee and then find the middle of the green," he said. "You don't play as aggressive in a U.S. Open."</p><p>Then Potter thought about the stock answer he had just given — and he laughed.</p><p>"It's hard to talk from experience," he confessed. "That's just from what I've seen on TV."</p><p>And that's the challenge Potter faces on a near week-to-week basis in his sophomore season on the PGA Tour. Not only does he have to contend with a collection of the very best golfers in the world, but he often has to do it in events and on courses that he's never experienced before.</p><p>When it comes to the U.S. Open, the last of the four major championships that Potter hadn't played, that challenge is especially, well, challenging. Open courses, carefully selected and set up by the USGA, are outlined by brutal rough, making them notoriously unforgiving and tough to navigate.</p><p>As evidence, only three of the last eight Open champions finished their triumphant weeks below par. That's because an Open's greens are known to be so fast, its rough so rugged, that former USGA president Sandy Tatum was once asked if he was trying to make golf's brightest stars look bad.</p><p>"We're not trying to embarrass the best players in the world," Tatum famously replied, "we're trying to identify them,"</p><p>The 2013 U.S. Open will take place near Philadelphia, where the Merion Golf Club awaits with wicker baskets — not flags — atop the flagsticks and no yardage markers allowed on the track. Merion plays at less than 7,000 yards, making it the shortest U.S. Open course since Southern Hills in 2001 and nullifying the prodigious driving of stars like Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.</p><p>That's just fine with Potter, not one of the PGA Tour's biggest hitters.</p><p>"It's not a course where you have to bomb it off the tee," Potter said. "You have to hit a lot of fairways, which I feel like I do hit a lot of fairways on the tour. My driver has been pretty good out there. I'm definitely looking forward to it."</p><p>Potter, a very aggressive putter, could benefit from the weather leading up to Thursday's action. The championship will take place over lush, soft greens that have been reduced dramatically in speed by the steady rains ushered in with Tropical Storm Andrea. With the ground soaked — and there's even more rain likely Thursday — birdie opportunities may become more abundant than what is typically offered by a U.S. Open set-up.</p><p>But Potter said he isn't planning to attack too vigorously, at least not from the air.</p><p>"You're trying to make par," he said. "If you make birdie, you make birdie, but you're just trying to hit a lot of fairways and greens, then hopefully get the putter working."</p><p>The putter was working just fine at Potter's sectional qualifier last week in Ohio, where he survived an 11-golfer playoff for seven spots in the U.S. Open field.</p><p>Potter was a stroke outside the cut on the 36th hole of his day when he drained a 10-foot birdie putt to get back in the game. Then, on the first hole of the playoff, he knocked his approach inside three feet, setting up an easy birdie that punched his ticket to Pennsylvania.</p><p>"When I got done (in regulation), it looked like I was going to be in a playoff so I was already prepared for that part of it," Potter said. "I also knew there would be a lot of spots in that playoff with a bunch of guys in it, so it wasn't like I had to go out there and birdie the first hole. I knew if I did birdie the first hole, I'd have a really good shot of getting in."</p><p>Potter has yet to have a breakout moment in a major championship. He was a last-minute entry into last year's British Open, which occurred only two weeks after he won the Greenbrier Classic. At Royal Lytham & St. Annes, a first-round 69 had him briefly in the discussion and helped him survive the cut, but, playing his third tournament in three weeks, he faded over the weekend and finished 60th.</p><p>Then he missed the cut at the PGA Championship last August by one stroke, the same number he missed by at his first Masters this spring.</p><p>Thursday, he'll take his first shot at the USGA's prestigious national championship.</p><p>"It's definitely a dream come true to get all four (majors) knocked out," he said. "Now I'm looking forward to starting to actually play better in them."</p><p>Potter will tee off at 8:13 a.m. with two other sectional qualifiers, Ryan Palmer of Colleyville, Texas, and England's Simon Khan.</p><p><i>Contact Andy Marks at andy.marks@starbanner.com.</i></p>